Oblivious to the recent developments, Woohyuk continued his exploration of the Central Lake.

Since there were no longer any items to be found on Paradise Lost, he decided to go salvaging treasure underwater for the rest of the day.

With Triton as his subordinate, salvaging had become that much easier. Despite him being exiled and bound to the Temple, they were able to bypass such restriction by taming him and summoning him outside the Temple.

Although he was half human, he was still classified as a monster by the system so taming was possible.

Triton had naturally been beyond himself with fury, but now had no choice but to obey Woohyuk’s commands. After all, he was capable of training any monster within the Primordial Forest, and in the eyes of the system Triton was just that.

He continued this underwater exploration for a total of three days, causing several rumors to fly around in Woohyuk’s sector.

Sightings of a giant squid or cursed ghost ships, as well as wreckages of sunken galleys appearing on the lake’s shores.

Since then, adventurers wouldn’t even dare approach the lake, since any self built vessels that had ventured out had never been seen from again

On the morning of the 15th day, Woohyuk returned to base camp. He had some last minute preparations to take care of before leaving for the next stage.

“All of your instructions have been taken care of.”

“Good work”

Lee Jaesung had continued to send out reports on any important changes. Ma Gwangpil had constantly increased his numbers, and they now far exceeded the maximum one hundred.

‘The more people the better.’

At least that was the case until the end of their second boss fight. Woohyuk then gave out instructions to his party for the upcoming final battle.

“Did you get along with the others in the party?”

“Yes, we are now completely at ease with each other.”

Since he hadn’t been confident in leading the party when Woohyuk wasn’t around, he was given a simple task.

To first establish some lines of communication and to get to know each other. To that end, he had everyone introduce themselves and say about their life before coming here. Only then did they go hunting together in order to strengthen that bond and trust in Lee Jaesung’s leadership.

Woohyuk hadn’t at all been worried about him, because he knew full well about the past Lee Jaesung’s abilities. Not to mention that if they were to find themselves in a bind, they could just communicate through their party chat and Woohyuk could use the Call to Arms skill to summon them to his side.

“Show me the things I asked you to collect.”

As soon as Woohyuk finished speaking, Lee Jaesung began to unload the fruit of their efforts during the last few days. Since he had an Intermediate Adventurer’s backpack, that had the effect of reducing the volume of items stored inside by 50%, he had been able to store quite a lot.

Ghost mushrooms, Fire grass, Oriental Arborvitae bark, Fox’s blood, Ash Tree sap, Lavender, Red Coral reef.

These were the ingredients he needed to concoct the Hermit’s Elixir.

Woohyuk then retrieved 3 silver coins and purchased an Alchemist kit from the General shop. Placing the ingredients inside in a specific order according to the recipe.

It wasn’t only a matter of knowing the right order. If you didn’t have the right timing, proper heat control, or the correct ratio of ingredients, even if you managed to place them in the right order, the result would on be an inferior or even unusable elixir.

Despite him not being an Alchemist, Woohyuk still knew several recipes. For one, he had memorized quite a few of them before choosing to return, but he had also picked up a lot of them as he learned to survive in this world.

The Hermit’s Elixir was one of the latter, and was useful in many ways if you knew how to properly concoct it. Woohyuk examined the light blue liquid within the vial with a satisfied expression.

“This…”

“Please hand them out to everyone, you will need it for the upcoming battle.”

In order for them to be able to move around within the fierce setting of the Canyon Battle, he wasn’t willing to lose any of them in the upcoming tribulation. Woohyuk then explained to Lee Jaesung his next steps.

* * * 

“It’s already the last day! If you happen to still have some Ancient Coins left, don’t bother saving them since they’ll just be scrap metal in the next stage.

Any Ancient Coins bearing the forest stamp wouldn't be legal tender within the Canyon. Hearing Eve’s recommendation, the players were quick to access the General Shop function.

“So, shall we get started with the second boss fight?”

In the distance they spotted a giant lizard with dark blue scales approaching.

[Basilisk]

I led an army of hundreds of Vipers.

“Wow.”

“Too Ma...many.”

Several of the players took a few steps back in fear. This was on a different scale than the Minotaurs since there had only been about a hundred of them in that wave.

Regardless, there was no place to run to. Today was the last day, and if they didn’t manage to defend the camp, they would disappear along with the Forest.

Waiting behind some barricades they had erected from felled trees, the players raise their weapons. 

“Uhm, what are you going to do?”

Ma Gwangpil asked nervously as he looked to Woohyuk. Rather than responding, he raised his hand and sent out a spell. A ten meter long wall of flame appeared in front of the barricades.

He had made use of Yoo Kayoung’s spell, Fire Wall. She and the rest of the party weren’t involved in the battle and would remain hidden using Hermit's Elixir.

The searing flames made it impossible for the Vipers to cross, as they had to take a detour and before aiming for the camp. The Basilisk however did not have that problem.

Due to its high magic resistance, it simply swung its tail aggressively, stamping out the fire and clearing the barricades.

It had been its signal to attack, as the Vipers flanked the camp from either side, a chorus of hisses marked their arrival. As Woohyuk felt them come under pressure, he summoned 100 Cocatrices.

Although he wished he could have caught more, he simply hadn’t had enough time to do so. Also, there was a limit to how many he could use because it did require some mana to summon each of them.

“Caw Caww!”

The group of Cocatrices engaged the incoming Vipers as they crowed like roosters. Of course they alone wouldn’t be enough, so the other players joined in the melee.

All the weapons they had collected so far were on display. Others simply used their magic spells or shot arrows.

The battle with the Vipers was going better than expected, but the Basilisk was still a problem. Opening its mouth it unleashed a dark green cloud of poisonous gas on the nearby adventurers.

“Gguuuk”

“Ugh, I can’t breathe….”

The afflicted players dropped to the ground as they groaned. Among them, there were even some that had been turned into stone statues.

The Basilisk had an innate ability to cause paralysis and even petrification if one were to gaze into its eyes.

Then there were the scales. Dark poison would be transferred to you through your weapon if you tried to attack its scales. The amount of poison one received was proportional to their damage output.

As such, everyone had to attack together and share the burden, else even if they had ingested a herb like Rosemary, their lives would still be in danger.

Thud!

As the Basilisk was busy stomping down on some Cocatrices, it stepped on a pitfall and fell into the trap. Of course, its size was such that only its front legs had fallen inside. At the very least however it would buy them some time.

‘It’s time.’

Woohyuk removed a yellow flower from his Pouch and placed it in his mouth.

[Rutaceae Flower].

A type of flower that neutralized certain poisons and raised your resistance to petrification.

With the Alchemist kit it was possible to brew an elixir that would have been more effective,  but he simply hadn’t had the time. Woohyuk raised Grandia as he watch the Basilisk struggle to lift its legs out of the trap.

* * *

“Wow, you guys have many more survivors compared to other camps!”

Eve had her usual bright smile as she stepped out the black portal. The battle’s survivors however stared back with a blank face.

The camp was a huge mess. Corpses upon corpses of Vipers had been stacked up and resembled small hills. All the camp’s defense that they had worked so hard on had all been destroyed.

There had been 35 casualties, leaving behind 120 survivors. It was a situation where there were 20 people too many. Reading the unease in the players’ expressions, Eve spoke up.

“Don’t worry too much about it, you only need to settle things by this time tomorrow, so there’s no need to cut each other up this very moment.”

If they were lucky, those that would be cast out could find some other camp that had some open slots. Still, there were slim chances of that occurring, since it was unlikely that other camps in their sector would have survived such a fierce battle.

As the people who joined recently looked at each other, they noticed a red number floating above their camp.

110

Upon seeing it, they all understood its meaning.

“Will the death matches be against other groups? ”

“Right.  Also, if you were to have a group of 101 people, you simply need to get rid of the most useless member.”

Leaders didn’t suffer any penalties when killing their own members. Immediately, several leaders then turned to look at Woohyuk.

If he were to kill off all of them that only had a Bronze Crown and assimilate their members, he could then have full authority as to who slackers were to be kicked. This would avoid any death matches, which might be attractive to their regular members.

He had pretended that he wasn’t interested in expanding his influence, but now that they saw he had a Silver Crown and was able to form a 100 man group, it didn’t seem to be the case.

A dangerous person.

Woohyuk was like an insurmountable mountain in their eyes.

“If you don’t have any more questions then I’ll get going. Fight until the very end!”

As Eve disappeared, an awkward silence ensued.

Ma Gwangpil chuckled to himself as he saw the various leaders be wary of Woohyuk.

‘Everything is going according to plan.’

Last night, one of Woohyuk’s party members had come to see him.

Nam Kiryang

He had expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that Woohyuk only groomed a select few within his party and was worried that he could be discarded at any given moment. 

If Ma Gwangpil accepted him as a subordinate, he could feed him inside information, and at the most crucial moment act as a hidden blade.

‘This is the best chance.’

Due to his recent battle against the Basilisk, Woohyuk appeared to be quite tired. Not to mention, that since the very beginning of the battle, none of his members had appeared. Probably it had been just as Nam Kiryang had said, and that the party had gone off to the Central Lake.

Ma Gwanpil decided to exploit the current situation.

“By the way, Mr. Chun Woohyuk, you sent all your party members elsewhere just as a Boss invasion was occurring. We all need to be responsible for protecting the camp.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You even sent your party to search for more treasure even if it’s the last day. Shouldn’t there be some sort of accountability?”

Woohyuk was now alone, and he had 60 survivors directly under him. He felt it would be easy to kill him off as long as the other 50 fell in line. 

“I never did such a thing.”

“Lying until the very end, but anyone can attest that not a single one of your party has participated in the battle.”

Ma Gwanpil’s words shook the other leaders awake, as they had just now realised it. They angrily stared at Woohyuk.

“Do you have a point to make, stop wasting my time with pointless rhetoric.”

“Perhaps Mr. Chun Woohyuk’s party should be included in the twenty people that are required to leave. Isn’t that right everyone?”

The other adventurers slowly nodded. Although Woohyuk was strong and had contributed a lot to the camp, him being alone meant that he would be able to deal with such large numbers. At least that is what they all firmly believed.

Swiish!

A Fire Arrow flew towards Woohyuk, who calmly sidestepped it. Several people then rushed to him all at the same time.

Woohyuk then ran around, without counter attacking, only focusing on defending. His goal was to suffer the attacks of as many of them as possible.

‘I can’t simply kill them.’

He could only absorb the stats of those that had a red marker. As Woohyuk kept up his act of struggling, many of those that had been standing to the side, decided to join in.

About 80 people, the majority of the camp’s players, had decided to turn their backs on him, blinded by the allure of the many items he had on display.

Still, none of their attacks had managed to cause Woohyuk to take any real damage. He had long changed to his Berserker’s Plate armor, making him all but invincible amongst this rabble.

Any magic spells sent his way were absorbed, while arrows were either dodged or deflected.

Close quarter combat was useless as well. With a single swing of his sword Grandia, he could easily knock back 10 of them and escape any encirclement. Not one among them could match his speed.

‘I guess I can get started.’

Most of them were now marked as sinners, so he didn’t have to keep the act up any longer.

ChaAhh!

Blood fell like rain drops after Woohyuk suddenly decided to get serious.  The players were startled, but quickly resumed attacking.

Woohyuk would even cut their weapons in half and wherever he passed, fountains of blood followed.

As more and more adventurers fell, people tried escaping, but would be cut in half before they could make it out of the camp.

“Sa, save... Ahh!

He showed no mercy. Not only were these worthless pieces of trash, but their death served as a delicious meal to fuel his growth.

Woohyuk continued to slaughter as he felt his Stats noticeably grow. Towards the end of the battle, he came face to face with Park Gunwoo, the one who had shot the Fire Arrow.

Suguk

Park Gunwoo’s head spiraled through the air. He had been Ma Gwangpil’s right hand man, and the one to instigate the attack. The Mages that had been near him soon suffered the same fate.

“Kuhuk…”

“Euuuk…”

Death penalty judgement, regardless of their age or gender. Grandia which had judged so many sinners, headed towards the last person with a red marker.

It was Ma Gwangpil, standing there with his legs shaking as he held his two handed axe.

“I hate guys like you the most. I truly wanted to kill you on the very first day, but had to instead be patient.”

“Please, I was wrong. It’s my first time…”

Ma Gwangpil couldn’t continue as the broadsword pierced his stomach from behind

Flame erupted from the blade and soon engulfed him.

“Kaaaaah!”

Ma Gwangpil suffered a painful death as he screamed in agony, his body convulsing momentarily before falling to the ground like a puppet that had its string cut.

“How do you feel?”

“Not bad at all.”

Lee Jaesung replied as he retrieved his broadsword from Ma Gwangpil’s corpse. Woohyuk nodded back, then took out his Lost Lyre from his Pouch.

“Now, I just need to take care of something”

The camp still had another 30 adventurers that hadn’t attacked him, so he had spared their lives. However, he didn’t want them going to the Canyon and spreading word of what he had done here.

“Listen closely, I will put my all in this performance.”

A unique melody rang out as he plucked the strings on the Lyre.

His party members blocked their ears as they grimaced.